Hydrocarbon producing formations often have sand commingled with the hydrocarbons to be produced. For various reasons, it is not desirable to produce the commingled sand to the earth's surface. Thus, sand control completion techniques are used to prevent the production of sand.
A commonly used sand-control technique is a gravel pack or water pack. Gravel packs utilize a screen or the like that is lowered into the borehole and positioned adjacent a hydrocarbon producing zone that is to be completed. Particulate material, collectively referred to as “gravel,” is then forced or pumped as slurry around the screen between the screen and the formation. The liquid in the slurry flows into the formation and/or through the openings in the screen, resulting in the gravel being deposited or “screened out” in an annulus formed in the borehole between the screen and the borehole. The gravel forms a permeable mass or “pack” between the screen and the producing formation. The gravel pack allows flow of the produced fluids therethrough while substantially blocking the flow of any formation particulate material, e.g., sand, into the borehole.
The pumping of the gravel into the wellbore presents several challenges. One challenge is that pressure exceeding the fracture pressure of the formation is often exerted on the formation. If the formation fractures, the gravel pack treatment typically has to be terminated. There is a need, therefore, for systems and methods of gravel packing a wellbore and maintaining the pressure exerted on the formation below the fracture pressure of the formation.